Grasping Straws
by rainbowwingedkuriboh
Summary: Order has fallen. Family is broken. Nothing matters. Nothing ever did. So I'll look to you, my last happy memories, and see the horror that I can't comprehend. Then fall, fall to nothing, like everything else.
1. Chapter 1

**Rainbow:** Woot! It's here! The Halloween special is here!

 **Wings:** Sweet, the only scheduled update on your account! What do we have this year?

 **Rainbow:** Well, since you asked… It's a fandom that's somewhat near and dear to my heart.

 **Wings:** Which is…

 **Rainbow:** Cuticle Detective Inaba! God I love it for reasons that don't even begin to make sense or justify it compared to other series that are probably just better, but still! Anyway, let's get going with this!

The room was dark and cold, that much the boy knew. He was about sixteen years of age and lay curled up in the corner of the room upon which he reflected. It was damp and dark, and he really did not care for it, though given his life's circumstances it was exceptionally more comfortable than previous arrangements. A small metallic rap broke the boy out of his revere and he looked up. He wasn't exactly pleased to see the scene laid out in front of him. It was simply a small messenger bot placing a metal tray on the nightstand. The boy sighed and walked over to the far corner of the room, over to the bed and nightstand and glanced down at the tray. On it was a single syringe. The boy took it and sat down on the bed. The mattress didn't budge, but the boy didn't pay it any mind either. He grit his teeth and plunged the needle into his arm. It pierced right through his jacket and skin, and he pushed the plunger until it bottomed out, its contents whirling away into his blood stream.

Kei woke up. It was a bright day outside the agency. He couldn't exactly remember what he was doing when he had fallen asleep. Hopefully, Yuuta and Inaba hadn't gotten themselves into trouble, though undoubtedly, though Kei, they had. Kei stood up and walked around the desk into the what would probably be considered the greeting area if it wasn't in a complete state of disarray. Kei sighed and started to pick the mess up automatically. Besides, there really wasn't much worth in doing anything else. He knew full well that Yuuta and Inaba were much more capable then him. Still, there was always that part of him that wished he could actually do something. He supposed that was just the mother hen inside and dismissed the thought with an air of finality, though he may have hidden a little sadness away from even himself.

Kei was done in ten minutes and glanced around the room. It suddenly occurred to him that this was incredibly boring and perhaps that was the reason he had decided to take a nap in the first place. Another sigh, this time one of regret that he hadn't gone with Inaba. At least then he would have had some excitement, even if his life was in danger as it always was for some reason. Kei turned around and walked back to his desk.

There was a package laying on it. Amidst the clutter of paperwork and disheveled office supplies, a single green box lay in the middle of the desk. Intrigued, Kei picked it up and hefted it. It wasn't particularly heavy, but it was almost certainly containing something made of metal. Kei put the box close to his right ear and shook the box. It was ticking. Kei instinctively dropped the parcel, and it fell to the ground and emitted a sound like a crack. Kei backed away, inching to the wall behind him. The room seemed to dim and the light from outside seemed to bleach the colors from the roon. When he reached the wall the package hadn't exploded, he was fine, and a sense of ridiculousness came over him. This was obviously some kind of prank, probably set up by Yuuta. The box had probably been laying there the whole time he had been sleeping and he had just failed to notice it when he had woken up. Still shaking, Kei laughed nervously and began his descent to pick up the discarded parcel. When he touched it, he felt it pulse and then it exploded.

The boy woke up drenched in sweat. His undershirt clung to his back, and he found the sensation of his sweater sliding smoothly over his T-shirt that clung to his skin faintly disgusting. He sat up and discovered he was under the covers of the bed. He glanced to his side and saw another syringe. It was full of the same liquid. He grabbed it and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. He was still shaking and the needle danced precariously over his flesh. One breath, two breaths. It was no good, he couldn't steady his hand. The boy elected to instead jab the needle into his shoulder with abandon. The same treatment was applied to the plunger.

Kei walked into the agency for the second time. For some reason he had already seen himself walk through the doors. It was quite odd having an out of body experience, Kei decided. He closed the door behind him and watched his double go about tidying the place up. Then he decided to help, though his body seemed to pay him no attention, and he was having trouble grabbing the broom which seemed to dart out of his hands every time. Yuuta walked in. Kei's body greeted him and asked if the chocolate he was carrying was for him. Yuuta laughed a little then told him to go looking in the washroom for his. Kei slumped hearing the exchange a second time. He was glad that Yuuta could joke around, but it **did** hurt to not even be considered. Kei shook his head and continued to chase the broom handle. It was only when Kei looked down a few minutes later that the knife in his chest became apparent. Kei whirled around and saw himself holding the handle. He probably would have spoken something about the improbability of the situation but he was too busy collapsing. In his mind's eye Kei thought he saw something like pity cross his double's face, but the room had already gone too dark to tell.

This time when the boy woke up, he opened his eyes very slowly, almost unwillingly. The dark room had become bright with lights, imaginary and fleeting but also blinding. Spots danced in front of his face and he blearily tried to grab at one. It instantly faded and a sense of how stupid he was being began to dawn on the boy. He couldn't remember how many days he had been here, but he was neither thirsty nor hungry. The youth closed his eyes and covered his head with his hands. After some time, he decided that this too was stupid and he rolled over to face the nightstand. Another needle. The boy was beginning to despise them. He grabbed the cylinder and stuck it into his arm. Them he slowly started to apply pressure and felt the liquid pour into his veins.

Kei was standing in front of a throne. The chair was straight-backed and austere. The throne was plush and festooned with all sorts of baubles. Kei blinked again. The room appeared dingy and damp. Kei blinked in disbelief. The palace was lined with his subjects. Kei blinked some more, this time the image stuck. He felt out of place in his ordinary hoodie and jeans. This wasn't the place for him, this grand hall. Kei whirled around, people all throughout the hall where cheering. Kei glanced back, a procession was making its way towards him, no. That would be silly, towards the throne, yes that was it. Kei started to move out of the way when a figure jumped out of the line and ran up to him. "What are you doing, Kei?" It was Yuuta and he was shaking Kei like a doll. "C'mon, we already rehearsed this!" Kei was silent, the rest of procession continued on its way and stopped in front of the pair. Another shadow dropped out and offered something on a pillow to Kei. Kei was choking. It seemed something had been lodged in his throat. "Kei?" Yuuta and Inaba were looking at Kei with concern. This was wrong, this place was wrong, he felt like it was wrong. Kei wanted to scream but couldn't. He clawed at his throat, desperate for some opening to relieve his thoughts. He was drawing blood, he could feel moist air beyond his throat, he broke through.

The boy bolted up and sprang out of his bed. He ran past the new bottle on the nightstand and raced for his old corner. He felt something trace down his face. Was it sweat? Or tears? Or blood? The boy didn't care, he just wanted to curl up and hide. Some instinct that something would could for him. Something would hunt him. Something would kill him.

The boy made it to his original side of the room. He sat down and stared at the bed. He saw the nightstand too and the new tray, but he refused to focus on them and instead concentrated on the dark layer underneath the mattress. He shivered. He couldn't stop looking and shaking and wondering what had happened. He was paralyzed with some primal force that held him to his dark corner. For a while, that was all he could do, stare and quake and cry and fear the completely known and yet strange truth that lay before him. He knew exactly how long he had spent in this room. It had been sixteen days.

Noah turned the monitor to face her and then glanced up and Yuuta. "Any thoughts you'd like to share?" She had grabbed a clipboard and readied a pen. "I'm always interested in what you have to say, Yuuta."

Yuuta just sat in her chair and stared at the back of the computer screen. "Y-you.."

"Yes?" Noah cocked her head to the side so that her computer glasses caught the monitor's light and flashed.

"You're sick…" Yuuta didn't move her eyes.

"That's not very nice Yuuta," Noah remarked, her grin intact. "Besides, he's the one who asked me to do this. Think he remembers?"

"What did you do to him," the Yuuta gasped. "Why would you… you…"

"What did I do? What he asked. Why? Because I'm a good friend, unlike you." Noah set aside her clipboard and stared into Yuuta's eyes. "Is it shocking to find out what happens when something you mention so off hand, so casually, becomes true? Tell me, Yuuta, tell me what it's like. I want to know what a special person feels like. Someone who's been sure of their existence and meaning and goals their whole life and yet gives no conscious thought to the ones who worry about them."

Yuuta glared right back at Noah. "You were my friend! Why would you?..." The question hung in the air.

"I'm not his friend, or maybe I am. Do you ever think about your parents, Yuuta? Do you ever think about if they're worried about you?" No response. "Yuuta, do you know what it's like to feel replaceable, not for a minute, or a day, or a month, but for your entire life?"

"Why?... What would you even gain by doing this?" Yuuta's head dropped to look at his hands. "What gives you the right to be my judge?!" Yuuta screamed. "I haven't done anything wrong! It wasn't supposed to end up anything like this!"

"What gives you the right to play God with his life?" Noah replied coolly. "But, we appear to be at an impasse, wouldn't you say? You won't answer my questions and my answers don't appear to please you." Yuuta fixedly stared at his hands. "So let me offer you a choice. It's more of an opportunity, really." Noah paused and turned the monitor around. "Kei hasn't finished his treatment yet." The boy on the screen was curled up in the corner, clutching his head. If the audio had been on, Yuuta was sure he would have heard the boy's screams. "All he needs to do is take the four pills in the bottle and he'll be fixed!" Yuuta heard Noah smirk. "So here's your choice, you can trust Kei and convince him to take his medication over the loud speaker, or I will give you the key to his room and you can try and find it. If you do, you can force feed him the pills."

"And why shouldn't I just kill you, talk to Kei, then run down and help him?"

"Because we're friends. Even now we're relying on each other. Trust is important, isn't it? I'm sure Kei would agree." Noah set the key down by the monitor. "So, what will it be, Yuuta?" Yuuta snatched the key up without hesitation. "Oh? Well then, good luck." Noah tapped a button on the panel and the room was flooded with light. A door had opened into a white, sterile hallway. "Hope you find him, Yuuta."

 **Rainbow:** Aaaaand it's over!

 **Wings:** What? I can't. What?! What is going on?

 **Rainbow:** You'll never find out! Never! Well unless I write another chapter… Which isn't too far out of the question, I guess…

 **Wings:** So basically, you've just added another story to the pile of ones you'll never finish.

 **Rainbow:** Hey, cut me some slack! After all, isn't this supposed to be your job?

 **Wings:** Ummm… Yeah, but you seem to like it soooo…

 **Rainbow:** Anyway, thanks guys for reading! Be sure to have a Happy Halloween! And remember no eating razor blades!


	2. Chapter 2

**Rainbow:** Hey guys! Whew! I almost forgot about the Halloween Special! Good thing I'm typing this at like the speed of light and had already thought of the content!

 **Star:** Wait, really?

 **Rainbow:** Actually, yes! How could I not spare a thought to this! God, I missed this show. Anyway, time is of the essence so we gotta get on with it!

Noah looked across the desk to her wall of monitors. The room was filled with the pale blue glow of occasional static and somewhat poor visuals. She decided that she should probably upgrade, but onto more important matters…

Noah curled her mouth in a grim smile. There was no denying it. She was intrigued. Maybe more than she had any right to be. When Kei had approached her with his position. Well… How could she refuse? It didn't help that at that point Kei had essentially broken down to barely alive. Really, all she could really do was pity him.

 _And use his as an experiment_.

Noah shook her head. Yes, she did feel guilty about that, but viable test subjects didn't show up every day, besides it might actually help Kei, right?

 _Well, if he doesn't die._

"So having fun?"

Kei jerked his head up to look up. A sudden spasm ran down through his body. Not of cold, or fear, or surprise, a totally involuntary movement that momentarily robbed him of his ability to control himself.

"You okay?"

Kei tried to focus his eyes. It was a blur, pretty much static at best, but he squeezed his eyes and tried harder. Gradually, a teenage girl seemed to appear out of the haze around him. She was squatting down in front of him and cocking her head to the side.

"Yo, anyone in there?"

Kei shuddered and kept his gaze, trying to gain more details.

"Look, are you just going to stare until you die, or what?" Kei must have given a reaction, because the girl smiled at him.

"W-who are you?" Kei was surprised at his own voice. Well, it wasn't really his anymore. Beyond recognition, his voice was thin and wirey, a sort of scratchy feeling building in his throat as he spoke.

The girl grinned even wider. "Who knows? For all I do, I could be a female version of you!" She laughed. "But nah, that's just ridiculous. Maybe I'm just a fever dream! Though you're not in a fever…" The girl gave an upward glance as if in thought. "Oh well. We'll probably never know, but onto more important things!"

"Important?"

"Wow, you are really broken. How does not dying sound?"

Kei actually felt himself pause, though the immediate anxiety that flooded his system in response to the completely alien reaction assured him somewhat.

"See, if you just stay in this damp and miserable corner, you're going to die." She sounded awfully matter-of-fact. "So the two logical choices are: A, take your last dose, or B, wait for Yuuta to jam it down your throat."

"Y-yuuta's coming?"

"Oh?" Genuine surprise this time. "Well, I guess you wouldn't know, but yes, he's coming. White knight and all that. Really though, I doubt he's doing it because he cares, more of a like a hard-to-find-a-better-replacement type scenario."

Kei bit his lip and shook his head.

"Look, there's no use in trying to deny stuff Kei. Especially, when you're about to die."

"W-what about… T-the…"

"Oh right, the treatment Noah's been giving you. Yeah, you should probably take that."

Kei glared at the girl in front of him.

"Hey," she put her hands up, as though in self-defense. "You don't have to. You don't have to do anything. It's your choice."

"You know," Kei managed to gasp out.

"Hmm? That you can't actually move anymore?" The girl leaned forward and leered. "Yeah, and you're probably here asking yourself if I'm just here to taunt you. Well, here's my deal, since I've been talking for too long anyway. Kei Nozaki, do you want to live?"

Kei was silent.

"No? I'd assume so. You hated your life didn't you? Working perpetually to keep your apartment because your roommate stopped paying, being the laughingstock of your workplace, always being ignored, always feeling left out, weak, useless." girl's eyes sharped. "Then let me put it this way. Kei Nozaki, do you want your happy ending?"

Yuuta rushed down the halls. This was terrible. The absolute worst position he could have gotten into. Kei was on death's door, Noah was being a complete and utter mad scientist, and Inaba would never forgive him if he let Kei die.

The only thing that kept Yuuta from screaming was the overbearing adrenaline that kept his lips constantly pressed into a thin line. He was going to take an off day after this incident. Though it would definitely be above ground. The Don's, or Noah's Yuuta guessed, underground complex was the same cement walls everywhere. It didn't help that all the doors were a smooth matte black too. Or that they were made of steel. That last part really made it hard to tear off the hinges.

On that note, Yuuta was actually surprised at how large the facility was. It might even take days to search for Kei's cell. More, considering that if he opened every door some mad house freak show would pop out and try to kill him. And how long did he have? Yuuta had already forgotten.

It was probably an impossible task anyway. Kei wasn't worth this much was he? Yuuta had to admit, he had felt a smidge jealous when Inaba had insisted that they search for Kei. At first, it had been mutual, but then days stretched into weeks. Nothing got done at the agency without Kei, so Yuuta had assumed that's what Inaba was concerned with, but he could never stop feeling…

Yet, what would the agency feel like without Kei. Probably messy. And little dark maybe… Yuuta couldn't shake the feeling that that reality couldn't exist. It was too wrong to be able to become real, right? That bright bubble that had been their home just… gone? No more lazy chats with him, or bossing him around, or…

Yuuta clenched his teeth even harder. When he found Kei…

Kei glanced around. He had taken the correct dosage, right? Well, he knew he had taken some amount. The effects were obvious. He wasn't in the room, and he could think. Both were good in his considerably more coherent opinion.

"Remember, if I help you, you still have to face your ending." Kei shook his head. Who was that girl? "I could be a female version of you!" Kei would have face palmed. Though, that was the kind of thing he was used to. Inane, nonsensical things. He could handle that, right? Well, not personally, Inaba, or Yuuta, or-

"Kei?" Kei turned around to the new voice. He almost recognized it. Almost. It must have been someone important to him. "Kei, it's me!" Kei tried to focus, he was struck by how similar this was to the strange girl's image. The same blur and static. Uncanny felt like the right word.

Suddenly, Yuuta popped out into Kei's vision. "Y-yuuta?" Kei's voice felt normal again, and then the world sharpened. They were standing on top of the agency. The city lights were the only source of illumination. Somewhere in the backdrop, Inaba was lightly snoozing with Ogi.

"Kei!" Yuuta's face seemed to brighten. "Jeez, I thought you fell asleep already!"

Kei blinked. "Oh… uh, sorry."

"Whatever." Yuuta punched Kei in the arm. "Just don't do it again!" Yuuta leaned back and gazed upwards. "Y'know I'm glad we decided to come up here today. It's still nice and warm from the day, and the stars aren't too bad."

Kei squinted upward. He couldn't see anything in the night sky. "There's too much light pollution…" he grumbled.

Yuuta sighed. "Don't you have any sense for romantic moments?"

Kei chuckled. "What between you and Inaba? He's already asleep you know." A kind of emptiness built up inside him. Yeah, that familiar sinking sensation…

Yuuta sidled up to Kei. "Hey, what about us?" he pouted and wrapped his arm around Kei's until they were clasping hands.

Kei brought his head down and smiled. "Sorry, Yuuta."

"It's okay." Yuuta leaned into to Kei and settled on the crook of his neck.

The smile grew even more bitter. "Not about that, Yuuta."

"Then what?"

"I'm being selfish again, aren't I?" Kei felt Yuuta turn his head to gaze at him. "This isn't real, is it? I'm being greedy, right? I know that you actually like Hiroshi and that to you I'm just another person in the world, and yet… Yet I really can't help myself, can I? If one person would actually notice me, I'd be happy, and in this dream it's you."

"Don't be ridiculous." But the world was already dissolving. Yuuta was gone, and Kei was standing in an empty plane again.

"Happy ending my ass." Kei shook his head. "I really am hopeless, aren't I… Yuuta?"

 **Rainbow:** And scene! Hooray! Made it in time!

 **Wings:** Wait, so what's going on?

 **Rainbow:** What, you don't get it?

 **Wings:** No, not really, the lack of bars is making it hard to distinguish shifts in the narrative, and does Kei have a thing for-

 **Rainbow:** Yeah, okay, I'm lazy!

 **Wings:** But Kei-

 **Rainbow:** Okay, to tell you the truth, yeah, I really do like Kei and Yuuta being together! I think it's cute alright, it's just that the original source material didn't really develop their relation that much. So maybe this Halloween special was a guilty pleasure of mine, and yes, it probably comes off as sloppily executed and very forced, but I still wanted to write it!

 **Star:** And write it you did. So is this couple going to become the focus of this story or what? Because this is supposed to be a HALLOWEEN special, not a Valentine's day one.

 **Rainbow:** … I dunno, maybe. I'm pretty selfish after all. Besides, this pairing needs more love, I never see anything about it anywhere!

 **Star:** Probably for a good reason. Does it have any canonical basis what so ever?

 **Rainbow:** Well, I happen to like their interactions, and I think Kei is a much realistic option for Yuuta!

 **Wings:** Anyways… Thanks so much for reading guys! We apologize for any trauma caused byt the reading of this, and we'll see next Halloween. Or sooner. Hopefully sooner, but not realistically.


	3. Chapter 3

**Rainbow:** Whew! I made it! I almost forgot again!

 **Star:** What? What's going on?

 **Rainbow:** The Halloween Special! Y'know the one day a year we actually reliably update on?

 **Star:** We've reliably updated on something before?

 **Rainbow:** Well, I mean it's once a year, but yeah.

 **Star:** Shoot, what is this even about? I forgot.

 **Rainbow:** _Cuticle Detective_!

 **Star:** Oh… And that is?...

 **Rainbow:** Whatever, let's just dive right in to this!

There was a blank sensation. Like an addict coming down from a high and being left on the cold hard earth.

Kei tried to sit up. There was no pain. Just stiffness. So tight. He couldn't move.

"Awake now?" The girl was still in the room.

Kei glared at her.

"Hey now. You're alive, aren't you." The girl walked over to tower over Kei.

Kei remained silent.

"Y'know, I'm glad I found you and the rest of your tiny corner in this world." The girl glanced at her finger nails. "You and your gang's shenanigans. Well, mostly your friends', but still…" She let her hands drop back down to her sides. "You really remind me of me."

Kei blinked.

"When you finally realize that you can move, I'll disappear from this world, so make it snappy and do something worth doing." The girl cocked her head to the side and smiled shyly. "Find love, go on an adventure, make a name for yourself. Something, anything. Even if you think you're completely ordinary, and even if you are… Well," The girl let her head droop then straightened. "Humans are pretty complex, aren't they?"

Kei noted that she was wearing a sad smile. He managed to crane his neck to get a better look.

The girl seemed a little paler now. Almost see-through.

"I think I'm pretty ordinary, but even if that's the case. I'm glad to be alive for this short time, and I'm even gladder to be able to do something with it." The girl placed a hand on Kei's chest. "I wonder if Yuuta saw this, if he would be jealous? Nah, he's only got eyes for Inaba."

Kei reached over to grab the girl's hand. He couldn't seem to find it.

"Hey, when you get your first meal outside, ask for Sukiyaki, alright? Make them pay for it too~"

Noah shuffled through her files. _Test Subject 201, 207, 213, 211, Damnit_. Noah sighed and set the papers down. Seriously, she needed to get better at organizing her work. That or get an assistant. Or a cute secretary. One or the other.

 _Still…_ Noah bit her lip and opened up the 516th case. _Kei Nozaki…_

Noah had to admit, yes, Kei had been in a terrible state when he had crawled to the Don, but she had been running low on test subjects. She had been curious too. Why would the assistant of their bitter enemy come crawling towards them?

It hadn't taken long to figure it out. Noah carefully lifted the cover of the folder.

 _That was depressing…_ Noah turned the sheet over and examined Kei's readout. They, at first, hadn't planned to really do much with Kei. Even the Don had to admit that in his deplorable state, it was too cruel to simply execute Kei. _He really doesn't hold that many grudges, does he?_ But, as time had passed…

Noah scanned the list of treatments that had been tested on Kei. The top started with antidepressants, then opioids, by March they had moved on to hard street drugs. Anything to get any kind of reaction. Kei had almost become comatose. Despite being able to administer them easily and without so much as a complaint from Kei, his body built up tolerances ridiculously fast. It was disturbing.

Even more so was the fact that he built up dependencies equally as fast. Withdrawal symptoms had started almost a day after initial exposure.

The past trials and medication had been trying to break down the dependencies. So far, they had eradicated most of them. Psychological analysis had shown that Kei's mind wasn't even capable of remembering what he had been exposed to. He hadn't even retained any events during his stay in the facilities.

The last treatment however… Noah reached for the next paper in the file.

Noah reviewed the sheet in front of her. _Power Imbalances. Self-deprecation. Self-harm. Suicidal thoughts and tendencies._ That was the gist of Kei's psychoanalysis. Well, it had just been about trying to sort out how Kei had survived at the Inaba agency for years, especially when his coworkers were a superpowered werewolf and a mystic martial artist. The session had evolved into something completely out of Noah's depth. The short answer was that it was miraculous Kei had survived. He was a completely normal human being. She had considered implanting special organs, or even tampering with Kei's cells to produce something special, just out of pity. _Well, he wanted to die anyway, right?_ But in the end, she had scrapped it all and just tried to get Kei to a healthier state. No point in trying to give him something cool, if it wouldn't change the fact that Kei was supposed to be the normal one out of all of them. That was his niche, right?

No, the fact of the matter was that Kei was simply normal and nothing could really change that. Noah didn't understand why that mattered. Kei had always seemed to manage that fact just fine.

Noah placed the sheet down and picked up another. The syringes where filled with mostly experimental medication, and a mixture of psychoactive stimulants in order to edge Kei off his addiction and ease the pain. They had moved him into an isolated cell in order to keep him safe. It had taken about two weeks to get to this point.

Noah glanced back at the psychoanalysis readout. She wondered if she needed one too, after giving that speech to Yuuta. It hurt, toying with her friend and making him believe all those tiny lies, but those tiny lies were supposed to fill in. They brought support. They gave a villain. All those tiny cracks that formed with Kei's disappearance needed to be explained. Noah felt the corners of her mouth to see if she was still smiling. It had left a bitter taste in her mouth.

 _They really are both my friends…_ That was true, wasn't it? Noah trusted Yuuta, and even Kei before now had been a friendly face.

 _Sometimes, you need to be the evil one. There's always an evil one, and just because it's your turn, it doesn't make you evil._ The Don had said that, hadn't he? _For instance, I'm sure that wolf thinks he's the hero, and I'm the villain, but his kind are the ones eating my family._ The Don had fumed at that. _In the end though, I wonder if I can blame him for something his ancestors did?_

 _I wonder…_ Noah put the paper down and shoved the file back into the folder. A lone notecard managed to float out. Noah stooped to pick it up from under the desk.

 _Ah… That's right. She was here too_. Noah tucked the notecard back into the file and shelved all of the paperwork back into the drawer.

The notecard had been made to remind Noah about a previous case her predecessor had covered.

Noah glanced over at the monitor displaying Kei's cell. In the end, she had probably done nothing of note to Kei with the exception of possibly shortening his life span by about twenty years. She had made him an addict, then broken his dependencies. She had pinpointed trauma but had failed to treat any of them successfully. Kei had remained despondent and silent throughout his stay. She hadn't given him any equalizing powers like regeneration, or hyper reaction times, increased athletics, or faster processing. She hadn't managed to do anything with all her time and resources.

 _So it's for the best, right? Having him be picked up but someone who knows him, right? Even if it means he has to go back there, right? Right?_

Noah grabbed a post-it and started to scribble what had been written on the notecard. _Haruka Nozaki. Died March 21_ _st_ _, XXXX. Familial Relations: None. Cause of death: donation of organs to save another patient._

Yuuta rammed into the door. It was the special isolation cell set apart from every other. It even had its own wing. This had to be the one. Another hit, the frame bent. Another one. Another one!

The door gave way to Yuuta and crashed into the room.

"Kei!" Yuuta rushed in and threw his glace wildly around.

Kei was lying on his back, one hand stretched out above him like he was trying to reach something. He was deathly pale. Almost transluscent.

"Kei!" Yuuta rushed over. Where was the medication? Where was it?!

Kei glanced lazily at Yuuta. "Yuuta?"

Yuuta spun around to face Kei. "Yes?"

"What are you doing here?" Kei let his arm flop down onto his chest.

"Saving you, what's it look like? Where's your medicine!?"

Kei rolled over. "Hey, when we get out of here, can we have Sukiyaki?"

"Sure, sure, just take this, alright?" Yuuta finally spotted the bottle on the floor and ripped off the cap. There was nothing inside. "…What?" The lid fell to the floor.

"?" Kei rolled over onto his side.

"Kei…" Yuuta couldn't face him. "…I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" The bottle fell. "I'm so sorry. I can't-"

"Yuuta?" Kei tried to sit up but only managed to fall to the floor.

"I can't do anything." Yuuta sank to the floor. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't call for Inaba. He couldn't active his white hair healing. Noah outright stated that his Hamusenryuu wouldn't work. "I can't do anything." There was no treatment. Kei was going to die and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. To be so close and so powerless…

"That's fine. I can never do anything, so at least sometimes you beat me out, right?" Kei tried to smile. He was trying to do another one of those silly self-deprecating jokes, but this time…

"Kei…" _Did he not understand? What was wrong with him?_ "Kei! Don't you understand you're going to die!"

"Why?"

"Because there's no medicine! There's no cure for whatever hell they've been putting you through here!"

"Why does it matter to you if I die?"

"What are you saying?!"

"Well, it's not like I really do much around the agency, and you're mainly the one supporting Inaba, and most of the time I'm just in the way, aren't I? Now you can get closer to him, right?"

"Kei…" _What are you saying?_ That crushing feeling inside Yuuta, the sense of an empty agency, the thought of life with one less person, began to settle.

"Are you crying, Yuuta?"

 _I'm not crying. I'm not crying._

"Hey, we're going to Sukiyaki after this, right?"

 _How can you say something like that?!_

"Help me up, will you? I don't think I can stand on my own right now."

"What?"

"C'mon, I'm working on being independent, but I need some help right now. I don't know if it has something to do with Noah's drugs, but I can't really control my muscles right now."

Yuuta looked up. "What?" he repeated.

"I said that Noah has some sketchy medicine I've been taking for no good reason and it's seriously messing with my mind and my body, so could I get a hand?"

"You…" Yuuta clenched his teeth. "Hey, Hamusenryuu should work now, shouldn't it?"

 **Rainbow:** Okay, that's enough for now.

 **Star:** That's not a very natural stopping point…

 **Rainbow:** Yeah lately I haven't been getting into the flow of writing. It's kind of frustrating…

 **Star:** Well, how was this time?

 **Rainbow:** About average I think. Rereading the older chapters, I think that where I want to go with this fic is a slightly different direction then before. It's pretty hard to write about characters of an anime I haven't watched in years, so even though I know what I wanted to write about years ago, I still don't feel like I'm doing justice to them. They all feel a little out of character.

 **Star:** I guess that's okay, or at least excusable. This is a pretty different genre than the anime.

 **Rainbow:** Yeah, the first year I wanted to make a fic where Kei got something cool, like super power or something, and last year I wanted to make a YuutaKei fic, but as I was writing this year's, I just didn't feel it coming to together like that. I think a big reason I like Kei is that he is normal and that he still somehow surviving with these two crazy people. I still think that YuutaKei's pretty cute, and maybe this fic will go down that route, but before then, I think I want to see Kei grow as a normal but still important person! I think that him realizing his own self-worth, even in comparison to other extraordinary characters, is the most natural development. Well, we'll see how I feel next year.

 **Star:** Hopefully, if you remember.

 **Rainbow:** Yeah that's true. Well anyway, if you managed to make it this far, thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it, or if you have some constructive criticism, please leave a review! It really motivates me to write more whenever I read a review!

 **Star:** Maybe the fact that you're not getting many reviews is a hint you need to take!

 **Rainbow:** Shut up!

 **Wings:** Anyways… Thanks for reading! And see you next year (Or sooner maybe)!


End file.
